The Rix Six

{New Years}

2012-01-03T09:55:00.001-07:00

New Years Eve was a lot of work and we managed a lot of play too. With Aunt Jenny passing away a few weeks ago, Mom inherited some big pieces of furniture that my parents had to try to fit into their house. She got a huge entertainment center that we thought measured 12 feet (someone else did the measuring) so the only place that was large enough to fit it was in their family room. Some brick had to be taken out in order for things to fit so Scott and Dad hammered away...

The kids vacuumed and swept...

and the entertainment center was put together...wait a minute, it is only ten feet? So it could have fit on different walls, and we didn't need to knock out all the brick? Blast, well too late now. Grrr.

This baby literally took 8 hours to get put together (including brick demo). Sheesh!

The day before was spent putting this desk together in the office. Aunt Jenny didn't go for small furniture; everything was done right.

In the midst of all the moving, furniture building and chaos, we managed to fit a New Years Party in there. We started out the night with a bubble gum blowing contest. I really don't know who won, Brittni had some great ones, Haylee, Kelli and I were also contendors.

Poor Brigham didn't know how to blow a bubble but he put in a valiant effort.

We played a game of Bingo. Brigham did not have a very good card and quit during the middle of this game.

With a lot of convincing and pep talks we got him to come back for another try. Grandpa cheered him on and rubbed it in when he got one but Brigham ended this game victorious. Priceless and not even rigged. He actually won and this was a much needed win since he has only ever won twice in his entire life. Phew!, the night could go on with happiness.

It is never a party if you don't break out the Wii. We even got Brittni to dance so next year it is our goal to get Whitney up there too. Pump Up the Jam nearly killed us all.

Our family loves this game. There is never a dull moment. See Logan all sad about something?

and Mom having a laugh attack that went on for several minutes.

Then Wacy joined us with his girlfriend and her family who were visiting from California. He lost this round and was not happy!

Since we had worked moving stuff around and assembling stuff all day we thought we would make midnight really be 10 o'clock but we managed to last until the real midnight and here are ALL of the kids (that's right none of them crashed) celebrating the New Year.

Happy New Year everyone, may this year bring many more great memories.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

We had a very Merry Christmas this year! Macy woke up at 7 a.m. and wandered into the living room. I heard her kitchen making bubble noises and jumped out of bed. I walked out to find her playing with her kitchen. She looked up at me and said "a kitchen!?!" like it was weird that it was just there in her living room. Too funny. Enjoy some pictures from our day:

Customize a picture slideshow

Thanksgiving 2012

2011-12-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

We got to enjoy two Thanksgivings this year. We celebrated early with the Ricks family and I forgot my camera thus no pictures of games, food or 11 cute kids running around. These pics are from the McGarry fams Thanksgiving. We went fancy and used goblets, plates and actual silverware...no paper products for us. (which meant 3 hours of dishes later) :)

Here is the Taylor Clan

Shane, Logan, Whitney, Kelli and part of Kliss :)

Scotty(loner) Brigham and Ashtyn

Macy attempted a big bite of jello. This did end up on the floor.

Grandpa being Grandpa with Ben.

Now it is Ashtyn's turn. No grandkid is ever safe if they are close to Grandpa!

We had a lot of performances by the grandkids. This may have been a time when they were trying to get us to have a sleep over. (it makes it harder to say no when they have put so much effort into it)

Alittle game of "ha ha"

It was fun hanging out with family all weekend. We hit the movies and a two hour long dinner at Applebees (sheesh!) and we did a lot of gaming. Our new favorite game is Time's Up. We must have played it at least 10 times over the weekend. We learned that my Mom has a mean Scrrrreeeech! ha ha Farkle and Bannana grams were also fun favorites.

Here is Haylee and Zack performing a Thanksgiving song they composed and had to perform for all of us. There are a lot of reasons to be thankful this year.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

2011 Halloween brought us Miss America, A Knight, a Princess and a Maid.

A cowboy joined us to celebrate at the Kennedy Spookfest. Macy only lasted part way through but the rest of the kids had a great time.

I always dread pumpkin carving time but this year it went a little smoother. The kids can mostly do it on their own-- with or without clothes.

Trick or Treating was a lot of fun. Macy thought it was really great that people kept putting chocolate in her bucket.

We were the first and probably one of the only trick-or-treaters at this house. Boo Grandpa!

Brigham Ricks is Six

2011-11-03T13:49:00.000-06:00

Brigham turned six on 10-23 and since it fell on a Sunday and we had family in town for Logan's wedding, we made a weekend of it.

He got this bullet bike a few weeks before his bday so he would get a chance to ride it before it got too cold and snowy outside. He has a lot of fun cruising around on that little thing...so does Scott.

We were lucky enough to have family in town so on Saturday we got everyone together and headed off to a straw maze. Brigham, Brock, Noah and Macy got separated from us for nearly an hour. I was really happy to finally meet up with them again and know that Noah had Macy...that had me nervous for awhile there!

Brigham picked this cake since I did not have time to bake one up myself.

Brock, Brigham, Haylee and Zack playing the Lego game he got from Grandma and Grandpa McGarry

We built lots of Legos on Sunday together and had a lot of fun playing with his new toys. Thank you to everyone who made this birthday special for him. :)

Family Photos 2011

2011-10-02T19:40:00.000-06:00

We had our family pictures taken at the BYU-I gardens this year. I am thankful for my little family. (especially when they are all sitting still and smiling ha ha)

Ashtyn-10 years old

Haylee- 8 years old

Brigham...almost six

Macy Turns 2!

2011-10-02T19:24:00.000-06:00

On September 8th Macy turned two. We celebrated on a Monday night during FHE with the McGarry's and then with the Ricks' on her birthday. She got spoiled twice!

She has been in a phase where she wears my shoes all over the house. Good thing Grandma got her some shoes that fit her a little better. She wears them every day now.

Hanging out by her pile of gifts. She had no idea that there was some good loot in those things or we probably wouldn't have kept her out of them.

She got a lot of help opening her gifts and playing with them for that matter.

She loves anything princess so this cake was a big hit. The sucker was also a favorite. (thanks Grandma!)

When we got home that night she got to open all of the packages and play, play, play.

She had a great pre-birthday!

Now, here is Macy when she is officially two. She was so excited that we kept telling her it was her Birthday because she now understoon what it meant. Anytime you ask her how old she is she will tell you three and start to giggle because she knows it isn't right and that I tease her that she is only two. Funny girl.

She got a Birthday card in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Ricks with $2 in it. How fun!

Balloons are a lot of fun too!

We took her to Smith Park for a picnic and to play on the toys while Grandma and Grandpa Ricks came to give her some more gifts.

She enjoyed some cupcakes...

and her new tent. We love you Macy Lou, Happy Birthday!

1st Day of School

2011-10-02T19:07:00.000-06:00

I am playing catch up since things have been busy since school started. I have three kids in school this year. They head in different directions at different times but hasn't been too difficult. Ashtyn started 5th grade which is at the Middle School with Mrs. Kay as her teacher and Mrs. Corbridge as her team teacher. Haylee is in 3rd grade at Kennedy Elementery with Mr. Lloyd as her teacher. Brigham finally started Kindergarten! He has Mrs. Jackson and goes in the afternoon. So far they have all done really well and are enjoying school. Macy misses them while they are gone.

Ashtyn headed off to school. (Hooray that she gets to ride the bus!) Haylee is headed off to school on her bike since they no longer will bus the elementary kids (boo to school cuts!)

Brigham getting ready to leave his little sis behind now that he is off to school. She is used to have him around. :(

Meeting his teacher on his first day.

My handsome little boy all ready for his first big day. So happy for him since he has been waiting so long to go!

Wild Weekend

2011-08-15T10:58:00.000-06:00

We got a wild hair over the weekend. I have been debating on moving my ofice space downstairs because I currently have my office in Brigham's room and the poor kid just needs some space of his own. I have been searching the internet high and low for room dividers, shelves, entertainment centers etc. that could help divide the space in my basement so that having my office down there would look decent and makes sense. I found what I wanted on Friday night around 8:30 p.m. on the Ikea website. It was going to cost $300 to ship it so I said lets just drive to Utah right now and pick it up tomorrow and drive back. Scott was on board with this so I booked a hotel and we rounded up the kids and were outta here by 9p.m. We rolled into Sandy, UT around 1 a.m. got a little rest and then got up early and shopping we went. Once we got there the item I thought I wanted was quickly thrown out the window as there were sooooooo many options to choose from. We finally settled on a desk/shelf combo and I am happy with it. I think I can work peacefully down here in the basement rather that stuffed in Brigham's messy room. I love Ikea! I love a husband that is willing to drop everything and take me there last minute and then set it all up for me because he wants me to be happy!

Here it is in all her glory. I have a long basement and needed to divide the space somehow without it looking too funny.

My new office space. Yes, I have a piano in my office but you can't win them all.

We are giving the Futon to someone Scott works with so it is a little out of place there. The hula hoop is just always out of place. This is the view right when you walk down the stairs. Living room....then office space... then Ashtyn and Haylees room and the bathroom.

Summer Fun

2011-08-06T19:13:00.000-06:00

We have been having a lot of fun this summer. Here are just a few of the hundreds of photos I have taken. Enjoy!

Brigham taking Macy and Shaylee for a ride. Luckily the batteries wear out eventually or they could do this all day.

Swimming, sliding, and more swimming enjoyed all summer!

Taking a break from the water.

Rock wall at neighborhood party.

Ready for the 4th of July Parade

Somehow they managed to line up youngest to oldest. How convenient for me.

West Yellowstone with the McGarry fam was a lot of fun.

All the grandkids we had to try to keep track of while we were there.

Good thing there were plenty of adults to help keep the kids together.

Grandpa and the grandkids (some of them anyway)

My cute parents!

Old Faithful

We finished the day in Jackson Hole. (My parents with the grandkids--missing Wacy, Branson and Shaylee)

We went back to West Yellowstone the next day to go to the Playmill. We stopped and ate pizza first. Here I am with two of my sisters Kliss and Kelli.

Of course you have to fit Rigby Lake in a few times each summer.

Shaylee and Macy with their hippo chairs. We had to go buy one for Macy because she fell in love with Shaylee's. Aren't they the cutes girls!?!

(Noah, Brigham, Shaylee, Ben Ashtyn, Brock, Haylee, Macy and Zack)

We take a picture of the grandkids each year when we camp. It is fun to see how much they grow from year to year. This year we were missing Wacy Branson, and Krew. :(

The McGarry Girls. (Whitney, Me, Mom, Michelle, Kelli and Kliss-we are missing Ashlee and Brittni) I was not very strategic in where I stood. How did I end up by skinny mini Whitney?

Grandpa taking the grandkids for a ride. Macy loves it! The grandkids may or may not have gotten lost that night while on a ride. ha ha

Campfire time

Summer is always too much fun. It was great to have the Francis family come up from Vegas so we could spend the week doing fun activities with them. I can't believe there is only a few more weeks before school starts!

Disneyland

2011-07-19T14:19:00.001-06:00

We have been wanting to go back to Disneyland since our last trip in 2008 so we finally bit the bullet and went again the first week in June. This time we drove and also used it as an excuse to hang in Vegas for a few days with the Francis Fam. It was a great vacation!

Hours and Hours in the car. Overall the kids did really well.

The first night in Cali we went to Midieval Times. It was so much fun as usual. Our Knight's horse got a little out of control and broke the protective glass in front of us which was pretty crazy.

First Day at Disneyland

I started to get nervous that Macy was going to ruin the trip because she was super grouchy at first. We took her on "It's a Small World" and she learned that the lines and crowds were worth the wait for the rides. (suckers also helped)

One of our favorites, the Jungle Boat Ride.

Train ride

Another ride

Getting ready for the firework show. (end of the day...can you tell?)

If you look really close you can see Tinkerbell flying through the sky. The fireworks were awesome!

The only character we took the time to take a picture with. The kids really didn't care too much about the characters which really surprised me.

On the new Little Mermaid ride. Macy was in such awe she had her hand over her mouth the whole time. It was pretty cute.

Macy played and played with her princess dolls. They came in handy while we were waiting for the kids to get off big rides and long line waits.

Waiting to watch the parade. She loved the parade.

Heading to Vegas. The temp got up to 105 but by the time I got my camera it was down to 99. This was taken while driving through Death Valley, how appropriate!

Downtown Vegas. It was crazy busy but we had to show the kids all the lights at night.

The Francis' took us to the Coke factory where we did Coke around the world. You taste different flavors of Coke that are actually drunk in different areas of the world. Some of those flavors are nasty! Macy was in a great mood and had a lot of fun tasting the drinks and making funny faces afterward.

Of course we had to go to the M&M factory.

Getting all the cousins to hold still for a picture is nearly impossible. They are such good buddies that I was happy to have them together for a few days. I don't think we saw Zack or Haylee the whole time, they buddied together and did their own thing.

Aunt Kliss taught Macy how to get some sun. She loved sitting there with her magazine. Kliss and I also got to get away and go to the Cirque du Soleel show Ka while Scott and Matt went to the Cake concert. It
was way too much fun to get away and see such an amazing show!
The trip was way too much fun. It went too fast and we can't wait for the Francis family to be in Rexburg next week.

Branding Cows

2011-05-18T21:54:00.000-06:00

Every year our family gets together to help brand the cows before we bring them up to the forest. The kids and I aren't much help but we like to come along to hang out and watch. Some day we may be useful.

My Dad taking a break to say hi to Macy (can also see Aunt Gail, Tannis, Brandon and Uncle Kent)

Little brother Logan and Scott had the job of getting the calves pushed up to the shoot. Not easy but somebody has to do it. :0)

My little brother Brandon marking ears and helping run the shoot. (Also my Dad and Uncle Kent)

The kids looking at the calves.

Macy loved hanging out with the cows. She basically sat there and giggled and mooed and played. She has cowgirl in her blood. I am glad she loved it so much.

Mothers Day

2011-05-18T21:30:00.000-06:00

Mother's Day this year was really great. The older my kids are the easier things are and the more I appreciate them. The kids were so thoughtful this year it was a lot of fun. Brigham brought this adorable flower home for me from preschool. It is made from tissue paper and I love it! He also stopped me a few days before Mother's Day and made me sit down and rest for a few minutes so he could rub my feet for his gift to me. I was so tickled that he thought of this on his own and actually got it done. Ashtyn and Haylee made homemade gifts for me and wrapped them up all cute and Scott brought home chocolate covered strawberries from Florences and a box of chocolates. Yum Yum. I felt very loved and I am super grateful to be a mother.

Gymnastics

2011-05-18T21:19:00.000-06:00

Haylee is our little monkey from a young age she has always tried to do tricks on the monkey bars or swing set and is always rolling around the living room. In August 2010 we enrolled her in gymnastics. She loves it! They recently held their Olympics and it was fun to see all of the things she has learned.

Her floor routine

The vault

Balance Beam

Our little champ

They all got a medal and thought that was pretty great. We are proud of you Haylee!

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T17:29:00.000-06:00

(this years prize table)

Easter is always a big celebration time with our family. We have a tradition where we have a big Easter egg hunt with several prizes to win. The Francis family drove from Vegas to spend the week with us and to have this egg hunt. It was sooo much fun to have them around.

(Ashtyn and Branson)

All the kids got to hunt for their eggs outside. We are lucky enough to be outside every few years. Usually the weather is no good so we end up hiding eggs inside.

(Haylee)

Macy had a lot of fun finding her eggs. She caught right on and enjoyed walking around looking for them.

Brigham

Our family getting ready to find out what prizes our eggs held.

Part of the family waiting for the reveal to start. It usually takes us a few hours to get through it all.

Dying eggs with all the cousins. Macy got into this too. She thinks eggs are apples for some reason but other than that coloring the eggs went well.

Brigham getting creative.

The kids helping Macy see what was in her basket. She really likes Curios George these days and watches Curios George 2 at least once a day.

Too much candy!!!

All the fun aside. I am grateful for the Savior and his sacrifice for us. We are truly lucky to know what we know and to be blessed with the gospel.

Haylee Gets Baptized

2011-04-11T17:07:00.000-06:00

Saturday was a special day for Haylee. She choose to get baptized. We had a total of five from our ward that got baptized so there were a lot of neighbors and friends there. It was a very nice day.

After the baptism all the family came over to our house for some lunch. Thanks to everyone who came and supported Haylee on her special day. :)

{Haylee Turns 8}

2011-04-01T14:00:00.000-06:00

Miss Haylee is finally 8. She can hardly wait to grow up and having to wait ten days after Ashtyn's birthday is like torture for her. We are excited to see her grow even if it has to be after her sis. Her birthday fell on a Sunday this year (she so didn't think that was fair) so we compromised and celebrated two days in a row. On Saturday we took her to the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2. then we took her to the dollar store and out to eat. It was a fun family day. :)

(Brigham is there too, he just refused to be photographed)

Spinning her new hula hoop.

A TON of new squinkies. Yes, they are all over my house.

She picked her cake and candles, the 8 was just for keepsakes she said.

Opening gifts on Sunday with Grandparents.

Cool new jacket complete with her name from Grandma and Grandpa. Happy Birthday Haylee!!!

A few facts about Haylee:

She is a girly girl! Loves, makeup, fingernails, nail polish, dresses and dressing up.
She goes the extra mile to try to look nice. You alway know when Haylee is pleased with a particular look she has put together.
She loves gymnastics and goes to gym each week.
She can be feisty and likes to run the show. She will tell it like it is which I admire about her because I am soooo the opposite of her. I wish I had a little of that in me sometimes.
She does really well in school and loves to read. Dr. Suess books are her favorite as well as Junie B. Jones
She loves white chocolate
Favorite color is pink
Loves to hang out with friends
Is very loving with little kids and will take them aside and play with them

Double Digits

2011-03-18T16:12:00.001-06:00

I still haven't wrapped my head around the fact that Ashtyn is ten! I don't know how it happened but I guess I get to face reality. She requested Orange Julius for breakfast so Scott actually got up early and made a few batches for everyone to enjoy.

We let her open her gifts before school. She got Pixos, wimpsy pets, an oragomi book and a new set of Scriptures and a body pillow.

All of the kids are distracted by Curios George on tv. Ha ha

We also let the kids eat cupcakes for breakfast (gasp!)

At school we delivered balloons and a treat and then after school we took her to Wingers.

I had to throw this shot in of Macy for memories sake. She hasn't been feeling too well and was soooooo grumpy while we were there. She ran away and was trying to hide from us to show her disgust.

Grandma and Grandpa Ricks show up at Wingers to give Ashtyn her gifts. They gave her a summer outfit, new earrings and a card game.

After dinner the plan was to go to Mars Needs Moms at the Theatre but out of all the days they had canceled the show for some stupid BYU game (yes, I used stupid and BYU game in the same sentence) We had to think fast and the next best option was to let the kids do arcade games. See how thrilled Macy is to be on this ride? She was terrified!

We got pretty good at Skiball and all the kids were able to buy a few dorky toys to bring home from all the tickets we earned. There was a lady there that was earning thousands of tickets playing one game. I have never seen anything like it. Lets just say she was able to buy the PS3 with all of her points she earned. Too bad she probably spent $600 to get her $300 game. LOL. It was a great day. Happy Birthday Ashtyn. We love you.

For Memory Sake, here are a few things about Ashtyn D.

Her favorite food is Popcorn
Her favorite candy is pixie sticks
Favorite Movie is Despicable Me
Her favorite color is blue
She is in 4th grade
She loves crafts & sewing
Still enjoys hanging with the family
Would rather chill with the adults than play with kids
She loves to ride horses with Grandpa in the mountains
She likes to read
She likes to pester her siblings! (she is fighting me on this one)
She has a very cute giggle, she is funny, silly and goofy.

{Valentines Day}

2011-03-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

I left my camera at my Mom's house so this if the first I have had a chance to blog about our 2011 Valentines. As usual we had our Vday Hotel stay and the kids enjoyed some swim time. Every Monday we have FHE out at my parents house and this year Valentines landed on Monday so we spent Valentines out there. I was in charge of the meal that night so I decided to go fancy and make Chicken Cordon Bleu,salad and asparagus. We also had fancy pink drinks and ate via candlelight. It was a fun evening acting all fancy for a change.
I am too lazy to label all the photos so I will just explain, some are of the hotel stay, some are of their Vday gifts, and some from the dinner. Enjoy the love...

Awesome Clothes

2011-02-10T08:39:00.002-07:00

I came across this website and really like their clothes. Sometimes I get tired of shopping the same stores so this was a fun find.

New Years Party

2011-01-01T20:27:00.001-07:00

We sent 2010 out with a bang. I put together a small little party for our little family to enjoy. We played Xbox Kinect for a few hours.

We ate lots of yummy snacks including chocolate fondue and bubbly.

Of course we had to carry on the tradition of silly string.

Brigham got hammered.

We discovered our new favorite game. Make n' Break. You have to build the blocks to match cards as you flip them over. Each card has a point value based on how hard it is and you get different times on your turn. It was addicting and all of us could play it. Highly recommend this one.

We are looking forward to another good year. 2010 was good to us but we are ready to say goodbye and see what 2011 has in store for us.

~Happy New Year!~

Christmas 2010

2011-01-01T20:06:00.001-07:00

We survived another Christmas and this year did not disappoint. The kids enjoyed 12 days of Christmas from my parents. They made snowmen donuts, gloreos, Christmas shaped pancakes and all sorts of fun things. Each day they were so excited to open a gift from Grandma and Grandpa.

On Christmas Eve we made Santa some sugar cookies. Macy got in on all the action (notice the toothpicks spilled everywhere) and they had a great time. The older the kids get the easier and more enjoyable these traditions are becoming.

On Christmas Eve we headed to the Grandma and Grandpa Ricks' for dinner, and exchanging gifts. With ten small kids in one small living room it was pretty chaotic, thus one good picture of Ashtyn and Macy in their Christmas jammies.

Christmas morning was spent at our own house. Here is Macy trying to enjoy a few of her presents at once.

Haylee got a camera and has made everyone pose for her.

Macy got baby dolls and accessories, and can't decide if the stroller is for her or her babies.

Ashtyn got an ipod touch. She begged for this and was warned it may be the only thing she will get. I managed to get her a few things but now that she is older and more expensive...she will have to survive on less.

Brigham got Zibits (little robots) and a Zibit world for them to roam aroun in.

After enjoying the toys at home for awhile we went out to Grandma and Grandpa McGarry's to enjoy some more family time. Here is Scott playing Mind Flex.

...and this is Grandpa resting his mind.

Merry Christmas!

Macy Loves her babies

2010-12-17T02:35:00.000-07:00

Macy really loves her baby dolls lately.

She loves on them and makes you love them too.

She isn't always the most gentle.

but she will try to protect them from big brother.

Give it back!!!

...and she lost.

She is not always the only one being terrorized while they try to play. Here she is ruining Ashtyn and Haylee's pedicure fun. All in a day at the Ricks' household, no wonder I am so exhausted.

So You Think You Can Dance

2010-12-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

On November 4th, my friend Darci and I went to the So You Think You Can Dance show at the Maverik Center in Utah. We had a BLAST and hope to make this a tradition. I took a ton of pictures so it was hard to narrow them down. We drove down and back the same day and hit a deer going 85 mph at 1 a.m. on the I-15. It was super scary and we can laugh about it now because we were just fine. It made for a very memorable experience. Thank you Darci for letting me come with you. It is the funnest thing I have done in a really, really long time.

This was when they came out at the very beginning. Talk about excitement and a ton of fun to watch! We were only six rows back so we could actually hear them breath as they danced. It was amazing to see up close. I watch this show all the time so it was even better to see them up close and re-watch some of the dances that aired on t.v.

This was one of the big hits of the season. (Kent and Ade)

(Dominic and Jose)

(Billy and Lauren..season 7 winner)

The whole group (can see Kathryn, Billy, Courtney & Allison)

Allison and boys...this is one of my favorite dances.

Great, great night. I will remember it always.

{Halloween 2010}

2010-12-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

I realize that it is now December and I am just posting Halloween. Since my Primary calling I haven't had much time to do any "extras".

The kids with their buddies who live across the street. Aren't they the cutest bunch of kids? Brigham (Ninja Turtle) Madilynn (Gangster) River (Shark) Haylee (Bee) Ashtyn (Southern Belle) Macy (Chicken) Marley (Halloween Queen)

Macy didn't mind her chicken costume. I loved it.

Brock & Brigham playing a game

I took the kids to the Kennedy Spookfest by myself this year because Scott had a Scout campout (who plans a campout on Halloween weekend!?!? Only men. Ugh) Luckily I had good company and my sister, Michelle and her two boys came with us too. We also ended up with another tag along, my cutest niece, Shaylee.

Another game (there were a lot!)

I always dread pumpkin carving time. This year the kids were big enough that they actually finished them from start to finish pretty much on their own. It was nice.

Here are their masterpieces.

Macy went Trick-or-Treating for the first time. We just took her to a few houses. Once she saw a sucker she was no longer interested and just sat in the stroller. The weather was nice so it made for a decent evening. Scott was supposed to be at work so my evening got even better when he showed up to help take the kids around the neighborhood. After that he went back to work.

We laughed and laughed when Macy discovered these teeth and kept wanting me to put them in her mouth. I thought there was no way they would fit or that she would keep them in. I am glad I tried because it was hilarious.

Brigham Turns 5

2010-11-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Brigham is already 5. Where did the time go? He choose to have his part at Madison Gymnastics and was able to invite a few friends to attend. Nothing was easier that letting boys run free in a gym filled with things to jump on, over and into. They had a great time!

Scott got attacked by all the boys. He was like a little boy himself playing on all the toys.

He wanted an army theme so we made him a tank cake which was a lot of fun. He had a great day. Love you Briggy!

September Came and Went...

2010-10-13T22:27:00.000-06:00

September was a whirlwind of activities from Macy's Birthday, school, Blackfoot Fair, and Las Vegas. If flew by!

Here is Brigham and Brock ready for their first day of Preschool. They go to a neighbor and good friend of mine called Leap Ahead Preschool. He really enjoys it and is learning a lot.

My sister Kliss, moved to Las Vegas in July so we decided to go visit them. It was a good excuse to get away and we always love hanging out with the Francis Family. We left all the kids but Macy home. Here she is on her first plane ride. She did great and slept the whole time. Lucky me.

It was super hot there 100+ degrees so we took the kids to the splash parks to cool off and get out of the house. Vegas has way fancier playgrounds than we will ever see in Idaho!

Like I said...way fancier playgrounds. This is the best picture I could capture when trying to keep four kids still in a fun play area like this one. Just so you are aware, you are not allowed to eat frozen yogurt here. Don't even try, they won't let you.

She liked playing on this fish but kept getting on and off...could not decide what to play with water, a tree house, a maze, slides...

She loved the slide...big surprise from my little thrill seaker.

These are all the Vegas pictures I have for now, I left the big camera home most days and just had Scott take pics on his Ipod. We had a ton of fun. We went to a Band of Horses concert, all you can eat seafood buffet, Fremont street, shopping and just hung out. It was soooo hard to get back into the routine after all that fun.

Macy has decided that she needs to climb onto everything. She keeps me busy trying to keep up with her. I have not aquired a little secretary all day at work since she is not content unless she is sitting on my desk while I work. It drives me crazy because you know she doesn't just sit nicely in the corner like this picture may lead you to believe. I am hoping this phase will pass soon cause dang.

This by no means is really happening. I just caught her at the right moment and she was happy to hang out there. We had success with #1 & 2 that day. A fluke, but it was still cute.

We also attempted going to the Blackfoot Fair, unfortunately we planned the worst day to go. It was pouring rain and rather cold. We decided to just go for it though because we had arranged our schedules accordingly. It was a total bust and I am still really bummed that the weather was so awful that day.

Macy hated it, can you tell?

So good bye September, off with ya.

Macy Turns 1

2010-09-08T19:43:00.000-06:00

Today Macy turned one! She is growing up so fast.We had a party on Sunday to celebrate. She wanted nothing to do with this grand cupcake. When we were passing out regular size cupcakes she reached for one and enjoyed it with no hesitation. (she fell and bonked her head while we were decorating for the party, thus the scratch on her face)She had no idea how to unwrap her gifts but she had lots of help so it wasn't a problem.

For her actual birthday we went and got her first Happy Meal. She enjoyed her orange drink a lot!

We played on the toys which she loved. She is playing peek-a-boo with me in this shot.

Brigham even took her down the slide which she thought was great. We had a great day. We are so grateful for her sweet spirit in our lives. Happy Birthday Macy!

The joy on her face is priceless!

Where did August Go?

2010-09-01T14:53:00.000-06:00

Seriously, where did August go? With August gone, that means my baby is going to turn one soon. What!?! Bare with me, lumping all of our August into one post. Miss Macy makes the funniest face when things happen she is not sure of. I believe the phone started ringing in this one. She looks out of the corner of her eyes and does a tight lip thing. I have yet to catch it on camera good.

We went camping a few times in August, once with Dad up in the Kelly Canyon area and once with cousins by Mesa Falls. We had tons of fun on both trips and even snuck some huckle berry picking in.Cousins, Isaac and Brigham playing by Warm River. I love this picture!We roasted marshmellows with the neighbors and all the kids slept outside for Brigham's "boy club"We took the kids to Tautphus Park Zoo and Macy was terrified of the penguin guy. She started shaking and crying immediatly. We may want to hold off from going to Disneyland anytime soon...

We went school shopping and then had a modeling show with the kids. Tee Hee.Macy learned to play with Brigham...Batman is now her new favorite toy. If you ask her what Batman says she will go "duh na na na na" Cracks me up.

Sent the kids off to school for 2nd and 4th grade. Wow!

Trouble

2010-07-31T21:25:00.000-06:00

Macy is trouble lately, she is very curious and into everything! The fridge and dishwasher are her favorites, but I did catch her in her bottom drawer the other day, clothes emptied out of it and her just sitting inside all proud of herself. I am going to be one busy girl trying to keep up with this one!

Ashtyn and I made sidwalk paint and this little stinker spoiled the fun real quick.

She loves to play peek-a-boo in the curtains so they are always twisted up but that is ok with me because it is stinkin' cute! I will put a video another time.

Don't let this one fool you. She is just getting ready to pounce and ruin game time. One of these days the kids will learn not to set things up on the floor anymore.

{Tear Drop Lake}

2010-07-13T21:48:00.000-06:00

My littl snorklers

The kids playing in Tear Drop LakeMacy getting dirty...really dirty crawling around in the weird dusty dirt at Tear Drop. She loved it!

Macy found all sorts of treasures on the ground. She is showing me the pine cone she found... and tasted. Yum Yum.

Brandon and Brittni joined us so we could break Brittni in (she had never been camping!). They are playing Bocci Ball with Haylee. Poor Brittni always has one of my kids hanging around her. We just love her. Thanks for the company Brandon and Brittni, I am glad you finally found us. :)

A week of Lakes

2010-07-13T21:18:00.000-06:00

Last week was full of visits to Lakes. We spent a day at Rigby Lake which gave us the itch to visit Tear Drop Lake. It was lots of fun. I am still trying to clean up from both excursions, sand and dirt are everywhere, but it was well worth it! Ashtyn building sandcastles with some neighbor friends Rigby Lake added a slide to the water this year. The kids loved it! Haylee and her friend Brittany goofing off. Brigham and his friend Aden Macy chillin' on the beach.

The 4th

2010-07-06T07:02:00.000-06:00

We had a great 4th this year. The weather was a little chilly but it beat having the sun roast you the entire parade. Watching the Scouts carry 100 flags. Pretty cool. We met up with several people from the neighborhood to watch the parade. Our neighborhood is full of cute kids! This one is funny...all the Dad's sitting down, stuck with the little ones. Brigham was all star struck with the people from Star Wars. He wanted to shake their hand but got shy and ran off. ha ha Brigham and Dad climbing the rock wall at the neighborhood party. All decked out in their red, white and blue. We had a great day spending time barbequing with family and friends and watching some awesome fireworks. The kids really enjoyed the day. Macy loved the fireworks and clapped and talked the entire time.

Our latest project

2010-06-17T09:27:00.000-06:00

{CAMPING-BIRCH CREEK}

2010-06-10T15:08:00.000-06:00

We went caming at Birch Creek yesterday with Scott's brother, Rob's family. It was such an enjoyable time. This was Macy's first camp experience. As you can see, she was having a good time...even at 11 o'clock when it was past bed time. The kids got to fish. Ashtyn caught this weird looking fish which really creeped me out! There was a big cave with a trail leading to it that Scott had to climb with his motorcycle. He made his way up to the top of that trail. All we could see was a small black dot but it was fun to see him progress and make it up there. Michelle and Brigham are buds, they were so cute working together to pump up Brigham's bike tire. Macy is getting so big! She turned 9 months old yesterday and here are some of the fun things she has learned: -she crawls everywhere really quickly now -walks along the furniture -tries to let go of things and balance for a second then sits down really quick -she waves bye bye -dances to music -sings if you play the piano -says "yummmm" (more like mmmmm) while eating -makes a yuck sound when I change her diaper or when she tries to eat something off the ground and I get after her for it. -says Ut-oh, Dada, Mama, and mimics the sound of "there she is" after we say "where's the baby". She also tries to say "peek-a-boo". My favorite is that Scott taught her to say "argh" like a pirate. She is growing so quickly and learning so much. It is such a fun stage. The other day I found her just chillin' on the floor playing. She found some jackets to rest her head on and just kicked back to relax. Funny baby.

Our Fun Weekend

2010-06-02T17:58:00.001-06:00

My family and I have started making bedding. Cute, custom bedding that is way fun. Here is an order we just completed for a customer. One of these days I will get my hands on a picture on their bed. It turned out way cute, so much fun! Because of this new business we have started we decided to go to the Casual Blogger Conference in Sandy, UT this past weekend. It was a great excuse to get away and learn new things. I took the whole fam with me but I only went to CBC with my Mom and friend Darci. We got to listen to great speakers and meet other awesome bloggers. My mom met the lady that started sugardoodle (I am sad I wasn't in that class) and we learned from people that have huge followers like betterinbulk.net, leeloublogs.blogspot.com, aprilshowers.blogspot.com, mormonmommy.blogspot.com, the creator of blogfrog.com, bipolarbeautyqueen.com, Matt Townsend the author of Starved Stuff just to name a few. Good stuff, good stuff. When we finished up on Saturday the entire family, I believe there was 15 of us went to The Mayan where people dive from way high. The place is decorated like a big tree house and you feel like you are at Disneyland. It is a must when you are in UT if you have kids. Scott and I decided to extend our stay until Monday so we got a fun hotel that had a great pool with a kids section and a big water slide. The kids had a blast swimming. We also hit Benihana's a Japanese style restaurant in SLC that cooks the food right in front of you on a big grill. The kids were amazed and it was tons of fun. The cook made a volcano out of an onion which was a big hit. On Monday we went with my sister and her family to the Children's Museum at the Gateway. It was tons of fun! If only they had a place like this when I was a kid. Ashtyn filling up her car with gas in the kids city. They had a house, construction zone, grocery store, post office and farm each of the kids could pretend play in Macy enjoyed playing on this swan. Haylee loved pretending she was a news girl. I had to take several shots of her posing in different areas. Too cute! Brigham had way too much fun. This construction zone was awesome for boys. There were also magnetic stations and blocks that had him pretty entertained. It was a fun weekend. We were sad when it all came to an end and we had to drive home. Back to reality. .

The Cheeser

2010-05-22T19:42:00.000-06:00

Macy has started a new cheeser face this week. It cracks me up each time she does it. My favorite picture is the one I took tonight of the kids while making a cake...notice Macy in the background cheesin' it up. Kids are the best!

Crazy Week

2010-05-09T11:09:00.000-06:00

This week has been super crazy. Macy learned to officially crawl and is exploring every inch of the house (finding lots of goods left behind by older siblings). She has been really sick for over a week and the doctors diagnosed her with Clostridium Difficle Colitis. I am grateful we know what is going on with her so we can treat it and get her feeling better. On top of that she has a cold and some wierd rash that covered her entire body. Like I said...crazy week. For Mother's Day, the girls had some activities going on and I had a good time spending time with them. We were also able to spend time with family while we helped my Dad get the calves branded and vaccinated. My Mom and Macy hanging out while branding and vaccinating the cows. Macy loved being outside watching the calves and was all smiles the whole time. It was really windy but we still had fun. Haylee had a program on "America" at school. It was really cute. They still sing the same songs we learned in grade school. ha ha Ashtyn and I had a Mother Daughter date for Achievement Days on Saturday. It was on the B's so we had Bee theme and ate cinamon rolls and did different craft stations relating to some of the B's. I also got to go have a Mother Daughter picnic with Ashtyn at school on Friday. It was a lot of fun to sit down and have lunch with her for a change. The weather was actually nice enough to allow us to even be outside. I love being a Mom. I am grateful for the sweet spirits I have been sent that I get to be a mother to. I am grateful to have the best Mom to look up to. It is also her Birthday today so we get to double honor her. Love you Mom!

La La La Latest Fun

2010-04-16T09:51:00.000-06:00

The weather has improved drastically the past few days. When Scott needs to watch Macy to give me a little time to get stuff done, he will sit on the front porch swing because it entertains Macy. Doesn't she look entertained? ha ha

The weather was so great yesterday the kids convinced me to let them set up a lemonade stand. They had a lot of good customers and ended up with $2.00 each. We will be hitting the dollar store soon I am sure.

Macy has just discovered the piano. She loves it. She will sit there and "sing" while playing. She always watches Ashtyn practice piano so I am guessing that is where she gets it. She was born with long fingers so maybe some day she will be our little pianist.

Cuteness

2010-04-10T18:57:00.000-06:00

I painted Macy's finger and toenails today. She keeps studying her fingers and just can't quite figure out what is on them.

This is one of my favorite things. Every time I go in her room to get her from a nap she has pulled the bumper down and is trying to take a peek.

Easter

2010-04-06T15:27:00.000-06:00

Easter is one of those Holidays that seem to go on all month much like Halloween. By the time it is over you are very worn out. As usual, this year did not disappoint. We had our annual McGarry Easter Egg Hunt, went to a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, decorated eggs, found baskets, and had Easter dinner at Grandma and Grandpa McGarrys. Phew!, I am tired just reading about it.

The kids Easter Loot. Which prize will be inside their egg?

The adult Easter loot. Doesn't it look so exciting?

The kids hunting down their eggs

Haylee got a pink bubble gum machine...perfect. Now she just needs some teeth.

We always enjoy a good laugh over something, I don't recall what was so funny but apparently something was. (from left to right: Noah, Rob, Ashlee, Dad, Mom, Logan)

Macy go in on the action too...

The kids colored Easter eggs during conference Saturday morning. They had a lot more fun than they are showing in this picture.

Easter morning, Macy playing with the toy the Easter Bunny left her. What a nice surprise.

The Bunny hid Brigham's basket in the baby's jumper. Brigham is sure the bunny jumped in there for awhile too.

Someday Haylee is going to wish she got dressed Easter morning...Ashtyn with her goodies from the bunny.

Getting ready for the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. (It was a blizzard outside so we went to plan b and had it inside a church by our house)

All the kids getting ready to hunt down some eggs

Can you spot Brigham?

Success!

Hope everyone had a good day and remembered the true meaning of Easter despite all the activies going on.

Haylee's Birthday

2010-04-06T15:03:00.000-06:00

For Haylee could hardly wait for her birthday this year. It makes it even harder when your big sister gets to celebrate hers 10 days before you.

She was surprised to get Heely's and is working to master them now. She also requested "high heels" and got more of a wedge instead. I really don't think I would have been happy with shoes at age 7 but Haylee was thrilled.

Last year we celebrated Ashtyn's birthday at Arctic Circle because our house was in shambles from having our carpet restreched. Haylee requested that we celebrate hers there this year. She got yelled at by some stranger for playing on the toys wrong so it ruined it for her. Dang lady....if only she had realized it was Haylee's birthday. Oh well. After that we went to the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It was a really cute show and I laughed through out the entire show. Macy slept through it and Brigham sat so still that I thought he was sleeping too. Needless to say I was glad we went. It was a decent day outside so when we got home we went for a bikeride and then hung around the house for the rest of the day.

Happy Birthday Haylee, I hope you had a great day!

Lucky #7

2010-03-27T16:44:00.000-06:00

Can you believe this little cutie is seven today? Happy Birthday Haylee!

My Baby is 9 Today!

2010-03-17T20:32:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that my first baby is 9 today. Time has flown! In this picture she is 3 years old. I don't have digital ones on file for her before then because we didn't have a digital camera back then. Isn't she so cute!?!

Here she is with Haylee (does Haylee remind you of anyone?)

Here she is with Macy today. The weather was nice so we played outside and just hung out with family and relaxed. It was a fun day.

She picked yellow cake with chocolate frosting and we decorated it together. I forgot to take pictures but most of the local family came to have cake and icecream with us.

She scored clothes, games, heelys, art stuff, books, a science kit and $. What a loved little girl.Presents are great. (Ashtyn at 2, Haylee 9 mo)

Happy Birthday Ashtyn, Hope you had a great day. We love you!

Signs of Summer

2010-03-15T09:41:00.000-06:00

Seriously!?!

6 Months

2010-03-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is six months old today. {sigh}

To Celebrate I let her eat her first chocolate licorice

She enjoyed it!

Some important facts about Macy:

17 lbs 24 inches
says Dada and Mama and has started saying Bubba which Brigham thinks is directed at him.
She loves bathtime and being naked
She laughs anytime someone else laughs
She sits up and plays with toys happily for a good 30-45 minutes at a time.
She reaches for everything she is close to
Loves paper
Doesn't love baby food but will eat a little for you just to be courteous.
She scratches everything. She like to feel the texture of things
When she is on her tummy she kicks her little feet back and forth casually like she is hanging out
She adores Brigham and lights up when he is around
Crys when Mom leaves the room
Likes to babble while she plays
Loves watching the kids play

Party Party Party

2010-03-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

We are in party mode at our house. Every night this week has been a party. Yesterday we went to my soon to be Sister-in-Laws bridal shower. Next weekend it will be official. We are so excited to be welcoming Brittni to the family. She has been dating my little brother, Brandon for several years now so it just seems natural to have her around.

Here is the cute couple at the next party we attended, Brock's birthday party. Aren't they so cute together!?! I guess I should have made them look at me but that would have been too much work.

The kids had a blast playing in these tubes. This is Miss Shaylee, my cutest niece. Brock got some fish for his birthday so she sat there and watched them.

Here is my buddy the birthday boy. He turned four and was so excited. I have been babysitting him the past few weeks and we have happily been anticipating this day. He has a crush on my little brother Logan's girlfriend Whitanee (Whitney). He is not shy about proclaiming his love to her all the time. Whitney will be 38 by the time he is 18 so they can be married. tee hee.

One more week until our wedding parties start and then we have our annual Easter egg hunt to look forward to. Tis the season to party, party, party!

My New Excuse...

2010-02-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

Macy ate my homework. Literally, I work from home and she ate a statement I was reconciling. She got it right in the spot where the bulk of my research had gone. Grrr!

{Valentines Day}

2010-02-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Our family has a tradition that every Valentines Day we take the family to a hotel for a little get away. This year we tried the new Marriot in Rexburg and it did not disappoint! The hotel is very very cool. The nicest I have ever stayed in. The kids were so dazzled by the decor and sliding doors. If anything, you should just go walk in the lobby to see how cool this hotel really is. Different than I have ever seen. The two queen bed room was very spacious with a couch that folds out into another sleeping space. Our family of six fit comfortably.

Of course we took advantage of the pool and swam and swam. This was Macy's first swimming experience and she loved it. She was a trooper especially since the pool was pretty cold. It took her breath away for a few seconds and then she enjoyed playing around with us. Brigham is to comfortable in the water and we had to save him several times the naughty little boy.

On actual Valentines Day we gave each of the kids a little gift basket. They were so excited, then we started the day with pink heart shaped pancakes. For dinner I made a nice dinner of Chicken Cordon Bleu. Brigham and Haylee were sick with a cold so we didn't get to go to church but had a nice time hanging out at home with each other.

Random pics so far this month

2010-02-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

I finally had the chance to move the photos from my camera to the computer so I thought I would update on our month so far. Macy tried carrotts the other day and loved them. The kids were feeding her so things got pretty messy. She could hardly get it fast enough and when it spilled on the tray she would try to lick it off. Too funny!

She is also rolling everywhere now. She started out over by the red chair and made her way clear across the room leaving a spit up trail the entire way in case she wanted to find her way back.

She thinks she is getting too big for her swing. She doesn't like to lay back in it. Instead she leans forward and hangs out. If you try to get her to lay back she goes stiff as a board and grunts. Apparently the view is much better leaning forward. Her hair is getting too long for the mohawk look we had going so now she has the boy comb over. When we leave the house I will throw it in a little pony tail on top of her head or put on a headband with bow to doll her up a bit. Isn't she just the cutest little thing!?!

For FHE on Monday we had a lesson on Love at home and made heart shaped cinnamon rolls. It was a lot of fun. I usually dread baking with the kids because they fight over who gets to do what and it drives me crazy. They did good this time though.

Haylee Brigham and Ashtyn love to goof around on our bed. There is a gap between the mattress and footboard that they can spend hours playing in. I have considered using this as a time out spot because if you get them in there just right they can't move. Someday I may just have to use it!

Brigham and his cousin Brock started preschool this month at the Highschool. Here they are on their first day. They were so excited. Since Grandma works at the Highschool she had to take them around and show them off to her co-workers. Can't say that I blame her...they are pretty darn cute. They keep telling me that they are best friends. Brigham talks about another cousin, Michelle, and Brock keeps reminding Brigham that they are the best friends though. All of my kids have usually been in daycare so taking them to things like this is usually no big deal. I forget that Brigham isn't as used to that. He had a hard time the first day and wouldn't even walk out with the teachers when it was time to be picked up. He was being very defiant that day. Ugh! The next day he did a lot better. I am glad we put him in it so he could learn to be away from me for awhile. He is too used to his comfy home and ruling the roost around here.

Gringo's Night Fundraiser

2010-02-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night Madison High School will be holding a fundraiser at Gringos to raise money for a marquee and piano for the new highschool. If you don't feel like cooking, this is a great way to feed the family and donate to the community at the same time. Hope to see you all there!

I love these kids!

2010-02-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

A time for change

2010-01-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Around Christmas Brigham kindly brought me a gift that he had wrapped in a piece of curtain he had cut. I had been wanting to get new curtains and redecorate so he provided me with the perfect excuse to actually take the plunge and do it. We have been in our house for four years and it was time for a change. Here is the final product. The walls are a lot brighter than the tan color they used to be (same color as the ceiling). It took some getting used to but we like the walls now.

These pillows are the inspiration behind the room. I found them on sale for $6.00 each at Home Depot of all places. I have always wanted a nice temple picture to display in my home. Scott and I finally took the plunge and purchased this one. I love, love, love it. We got 25% off so it was a steel of a deal. We went with The Salt Lake Temple since the Rexburg ones framed just the same were hundreds of dollars more for some reason. You can't go wrong with SLC though. I sit and stare at this all the time. It brings me joy. A close up of the curtains. I have decided curtains are hard. Hard to match with decor, hard to purchase due to their cost, and hard to decide on a style. Poor Scott was drug into it and I asked him countless questions, made him hold things far away, against the pillows, put them up, take them down, take them back etc. He was very patient with me.

With the layout of my house, I had to change my kitchen and dining curtains as well to tie it all in. (don't look too close at all the clutter). And there you have it. Come on over and enjoy it with me for awhile if you would like.

Rice Cereal among other things

2010-01-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

Macy Started Rice Cereal this month. She was throwing a fit because I was trying to get dinner ready and wasn't giving her all the attention she deserved. I mixed up some cereal really quick and that fixed everything. She loved it. All the kids loved it too. They each had to take a turn feeding her.

Brigham reminds me every day that we need to feed her. He set this one up on his own because I was trying to work and he just couldn't wait. Good thing Macy is patient with her siblings.

Macy is enjoying all of her toys now. Her favorite part of this toy is the frog/mirror section. She gets very excited when we hand her a toy but can hardly stand herself when we open a book. She kicks and talks and touches. It is pretty cute.

Ashtyn and Haylee had to dress up as a favorite book character for school. This is my attempt at Pipi Longstocking. They turned out ok for just coming up with the costume the night before.

Of course Brigham had to dress up too. This is as dressed up as he gets. I wonder what it is like to have a child that actually likes to wear clothes!?!

I asked Brigham to take out the garbage in my office. I threaten to throw him away all the time. Now that I know he fits, I just might actually do it!

Getting Big

2010-01-04T21:16:00.001-07:00

I can't believe Macy is already almost four months old. I think of the milestones that are coming soon and get sad that it is going so fast. She is grabbing at toys and trying to put everything in her mouth. She loves her jumper time and is sitting up on her own a little. She is becoming a lot more vocal and it is fun to hear her babble on and on about things. She adores her sisters and Brigham. We adore her.

A look back at 2009

2010-01-01T12:36:00.001-07:00

We celebrated the New Year last night with just our little family. Scott had to work open to close so the kids I and I did most of the partying. I started out the day by making breakfast for the kids then we went to McDonald's for lunch. The kids played in the snow while I made dinner and then we played games the rest of the evening. I let the kids shoot silly string to celebrate and laughed my head off at their reactions as they destroyed the house with that messy stuff. I was by far my favorite part of the evening. The kids showing off the silly string balls they made after picking up their big mess. I had to bribe them with marbles to see who could make the biggest ball during clean up. Macy was in on all the action. She stayed up longest falling asleep at 12:30, the little stinker. My New Years resolution...to get rid of that double chin! The kids partying. Sorry, Brigham choosed to never wear clothes. I choose not to fight him all the time over it.

2009 was good to us for the most part. Here is a look back...

January-Found out we were expecting number 4.

February-basement flooded. Good times

March-Ashtyn turned 8 and got baptized, Haylee turned six and we had to move every item of furniture from each room in order to get the carpet stretched.

April-Scott and I went on a cruise to the Key West and Cozumel. Found out we were having another girl.

May-Haylee graduated from Kindergarten. Dance recitals and first cattle drive. Ashtyn got to go on many horse riding adventures with Grandpa this year.

June-Started our family garden. I turned 30, we went to Utah, kids took swimming lessons and we got a new trampoline

July-McGarry reunion. Lots of Idaho wind. Our tramp was damaged as well as a porch swing.

August-Ashtyn started third grade, Haylee first. Prepared for baby to come.

September-Baby Macy finally arrived...the rest of that month was a blur. :0) Scott and I celebrated our 10th anniversary.

October-Brigham turned four. Lots of Halloween fun.

November-Hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first time. Spent a lot of time with family.

December-Scott turned 31. Christmas, Christmas and more Christmas.

Christmas Pics 2009

2009-12-29T13:31:00.001-07:00

Here are all the pictures taken this Holiday. I didn't take the time to edit them so you are getting them all. You will see pictures from Scott's Birthday, Christmas Eve dance at the Burton church, Christmas Eve party at the Lloyd Ricks home, Christmas Day, Chritmas dinner at the McGarry's, snowmobiling with Grandpa McGarry and the Pete and June Ricks family Christmas party at Gringos this past Sunday. It was a great Holiday spending time with family.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Random December Pics

2009-12-21T09:45:00.001-07:00

It has been a busy month so I thought I would catch up and just post a few things from December. Ashtyn's Christmas program. She is on the first row standing up third one from the right wearing the green hat and glasses. What a cutie! Sorry about the bad video, Macy was fussy so I was trying to video and hold her at the same time while rocking her back and forth. Really bad combination for trying to video tape but you do what you can do. My only other option would have been to have Brigham video and that would have been much much worse. The beautiful tree, thanks to Scotty Macy's first pony tail. Making the gingerbread house which lasted 30 minutes before the kids started eating it. Macy loves her tummy time

Christmas Decor

2009-12-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

All I can say is Bah Hum Bug. I really want to get into the Christmas spirit, but it just isn't in me this year. I have had no desire to decorate but since we have kids I really have had no choice. We finally drug out our decor and it just made me grumpier. I am tired of the same old stuff we have had for ten years now. On top of that I had no control over how the ornaments were going on the tree as I had to sit there and nurse the baby while this was all taking place. I tried to stay positive (and calm) and not ruin it for the kids who were having a great time finding their ornaments from years past and sticking them really close to each other on the tree near other items of the exact same color (remember I am staying calm). I mentioned to Scott that our decor was old school and too cutesy and that I would rather have a "pretty" tree this year and decorate our big ledge with garland instead of a bunch of random stuff. I had to leave them to decorating as I had to fulfil my Relief Society board calling and head to the church to decorate for our Christmas Dinner we are having tonight. This is what I came home to. I HAVE THE BEST HUSBAND EVER! He didn't dare take anything out of it's packaging or re-decorate the tree for fear that I wouldn't like what he had picked. He gets some major bonus points for having the guts to pick out tree decorations. I like what he chose, he did good. I love you Scott, thanks for being so thoughtful!

2009-11-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

Macy was blessed yesterday and the day turned out very nice. Thanks to everyone who came and helped make it a special day. All dolled up and ready to go. I made her little bracelet for her blessing day. This is the same dress we blessed Ashtyn and Haylee in. Macy with Grandma McGarry. Grandpa had to go back to church and Grandma had to come later because she was the only one that could play the organ at church that week. I missed getting pictures of Michelle, Brock, Kelli, Shane, Shaylee, Brandon, Britni, Logan, Whitney, Rachel, Jeremy, Isaac & Ainsley who were also there. Aunt Gail, Uncle Bruce, Jacob and Gigi Scott's side of the family. By this point in picture taking Haylee was crying and Brigham wouldn't grace us with his presence. Good times! Our complete family. We are so happy to have Macy here finally to join us.

Guess Who Is...

2009-11-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! I put her down at 11:30 last night and she slept until 9a.m. The night before she slept from 10:30 to 8:45 but we woke her up this time so we could get her ready for church. On Friday evening I came home from a day of shopping and she slept from 5:30p.m. until midnight was up for an hour and then slept until 9 the next morning. Lets just hope this lasts! Yes, I am as happy as she is about the whole thing.

Immunizations

2009-11-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

Today I took Macy to get her 2 month shots. I dread these appointments knowing that they will be fussy for the next few days but it has to be done. She was upset before they even gave her the shots, in fact the nurses walked in and turned around and walked out thinking they must have already given her the shot and that they had the wrong room or something. We weren't off to a good start. Eventually I got her to calm down, got her mad again after the shots and then she rested peacefully while it was my turn. For a few years now I have been dealing with high liver enzyme levels which cause me to have tightness in my chest, heartburn, dry dry skin and maybe even the lovely rash I had while I was pregnant. Since my deductable had been met for the year we decided to get things test further to figure out what is causing this. I am scheduled for an ultrasound tomorrow morning at the hospital to see if my bile duct is clogged or if damage was done to it when I had my gall bladder removed 8 years ago. They also took blood to run tests on for liver issues. I have already been tested for hepatitis and have ruled that out so it should be interesting to see if/what we find. Back to Miss Macy... For her weight of 12.56 lbs, she is at 82% and her height of 23 in puts her at 64%. They said she is very alert for her age and keeps her head up amazingly well. We are thrilled with her progress, she took a 37% jump on her weight since our last visit when she was 10 days old. I guess my milk is working just fine for her. Here she is with her bandaids. Brigham was pretty bummed that he was the only one that didn't get a shot today. That kid is crazy and really, really wants a shot. When we got the h1n1 vaccine he was ticked because we ended up getting the mist instead of the shot. I wonder if he will really be a big fan of shots when he actually has to get one.

2009-11-13T10:03:00.001-07:00

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Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T20:53:00.001-07:00

This picture is a classic. Haylee is such a diva, Ashtyn quite the opposite. All ready for the Kennedy Spookfest, Two cowboys, Casper, Dorothy, and Hannah Montana The most I dressed up this year was fake eyelashes. Macy was Casper the ghost for a few minutes until she had a blow out all over her outfit. Oh well. Since we didn't have anything to dress Macy up as my friend Darci let us borrow this little outfit. It was a little tight on her but we made it work. Thanks Darci! We attended our ward party which was a huge hit. Tons of people showed up and all the kids had a blast. Here they are getting ready to play red light, green light. We entered our mummy pumpkin in the pumpkin carving contest and took second place. Not too shabby. We won a pumpkin bucket full of Halloween goodies. Carving pumpkins. Haylee painted her pumpkin this year but decided to do it in her underwear...thus no pictures Gutting the pumpkins. The kids were determined to do this on their own which was fine by us. I was feeding Macy and didn't get a chance to take pictures of the final product. I am lame and was going to get a picture later and completely forgot. The pumpkins are now in the trash so I guess it is too late. Brigham carved an alien and Ashtyn carved a cute Frankenstein.

{Macy 7 weeks}

2009-10-27T09:59:00.000-06:00

Macy is growing so fast! She is starting to smile and coo but you usually only get these right when she wakes up from a nap. She has officially grown out of her newborn clothes. She loves to listen to you talk and stares intently at you while you do. She is patient with her siblings as there is always a lot of noise. She has had a few run ins with the big brother but only lets out an angry cry when he touches her wrong. When he comes around her now you can tell she gets a little nervous but she still trusts him enough not to scream and cry when he gets close. I am sure the time will come. She is finally on a schedule for the most part. She goes to sleep around 9 wakes up around 12:30 for a feeding back to sleep and then up again around 6:30 to eat again. Some night she is up every three hours but lately she is starting to sleep longer. Thank heavens! During the day she eats every 2.5 to 3 hours, hangs out for about an hour and plays either listening to Mom talk and play with her or just kickin' it on the floor or in her bouncy seat. When she gets fussy I rock her for a few minutes and she sleep for the next hour or so until we start the process all over again. I have tried just laying her down for her naps and she throws a big fit. I have tried letting her cry it out but after 20 minutes I feel guilty and she is so ticked at me she doesn't even settle down for several minutes even while I am holding and loving her. She usually stops crying the second I pick her up in normal circumstances. Since she is my last baby I am going to snuggle and rock her to sleep. I don't care what any of the books say! I have yet to capture a good smile picture. This is the best I have captured so far and the little stinker turned her head at the last minute. At least you can kind of see it. Here she is hanging with Daddy. When Macy sleeps she burrows her head in my armpit (lovely I know) or she covers her head with her hand (see below) She gets that from her Dad. She also loves to sleep on her stomach. (Yes, I know "back to sleep" is the rule) I just love to see her little body all scrunched up. Aren't her little pants the cutest!?!

Brigham Turns Four

2009-10-23T21:29:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it has already been four years. Four years ago our little B came along and we have loved life with him since. He has such a fun personality and keeps us laughing every day. I took the day off work and so we could spend the day together. We went to Gringos and ate lunch, they sang to him which was imbarassing for him but he handled it well. Then we went to Wal Mart and picked out the toys to put in his party bags for his sisters and cousins who would come to his Birthday party that night. Brigham was hard this year and every time we would ask him what he wanted for his bday he would say nothing. We took him to Toys R Us to inspire him with some ideas and still he really didn't care about anything kept saying he didn't want anything...even at Toys R US. What!?! Scott and I were on our own and decided to get him the new Fisher Price version of Legos, a tool kit and bendaroos. At the last minute he decided on a birthday theme of Transformers so we got Transformer birthday products to decorate with. Getting ready to blow out his candles. He got this fun new UNO game from Grandma and Grandpa McGarry. It is pretty cute and I would recommend it to anyone with preschool age kids. He picked out this balloon at Broulims. The lady helping us was really fun and even got on the microphone and announced to all the Broulims shoppers that it was Brigham's fourth birthday. He thought that was pretty cool. He had lots of helpers when it came time to open gifts. Haylee and Brock opened the legos and color book that Brock, Aunt Michelle and Uncle J gave him. He did't seem to mind as he was busy opening his other gifts. I didn't find time to make him a cake so we picked one up at Broulims. I bought some fondant and put the Transformers logo on it so we could tie the cake in with the theme. He was happy with it. Happy Birthday B, we love you!

The Latest

2009-10-07T14:07:00.000-06:00

The kids are out for Spud Harvest and we had great plans to head to Utah on 10-7 and stay for five whole days. My nephew Wacy is entering the MTC today and my other nephew Ben is getting baptized on Saturday so it was a perfect reason to go spend some time with family. Our plans changed when Ashtyn and Brigham woke up with 103 degree fevers on Tuesday. We are all really bummed that we are still here but we are making the most of it. I made home made play dough,got a new movie and each of them their own Sprite. We only cry when we realize that we should really be in Utah right now. Bummer. They are feeling better so maybe by Friday we can still make it down. For now, here are a few pics from the last week or so: My little helpers. They all love helping with Macy and I must say I appreciate the help and actually trust them to hold her. The Ricks' family has six people with birthday in October alone so we just throw one big birthday bash to celebrate. We had it at our house this year. This doesn't look like much of a party, but it was fun. We got out the chocolate fountain, had homemade pumpkin pie, turkey, potatoes etc. We didn't even eat the cake because we were all too full! It also snowed this week. Here is Macy and her first snow. Here are the girls playing in the snow. Brigham threw a big fit over his winter boots so he choose not to play outside. Maybe next snow (and now that he has new boots) Macy is officially 4 weeks old. Here she is with Haylee, she is getting big way too fast! Also notice that Haylee lost one of her two front teeth on 10-3. She was so excited.

My Babies

2009-09-24T07:45:00.001-06:00

I have an awesome neighbor, Brianne Serrano, who took pictures of the kids when Macy was 11 days old. Here is her website for anyone interested in getting pictures done or to just view some other cute photos http://myperfectportraits.blogspot.com/. I had a really hard time picking favorites so here are a bunch of the photos she took. So sweet, can you see why I have a hard time putting her down every day? Ashtyn and Haylee insisted that we make her where this tutu. I am very glad we did because it turned out adorable. She is the cutest ballerina ever. Wide awake when she should be sleeping. Gotta love those eyes though! Love this one because you can see her head of hair I wish you could see just how small these boxes and baskets are. It amazes me that they fit in them. This one I was just holding her trying to get her to fall asleep (of course she was wide awake when we wanted her to sleep) and Brianne captured the moment. Love it! All of my babies together. I can't believe I have four of them now! I am so excited to get these photos framed and displayed in my home. I love, love, love feet. This picture is so much fun. Thanks Brianne for the great pics. I am thrilled to have captured so many great moments.

1 Week Old

2009-09-15T18:21:00.000-06:00

I can't believe a week has already gone by. We are really enjoying Macy. She has been so good for us so far (knock on wood). So that I don't forget, here is her birth story: On Labor day (9-7-09) I was miserably sick with the flu. Scott took the kids to McDonalds at around 1 o'clock and when I was running to the bathroom to throw up I ended up passing out and landed right on my stomach. I couldn't get up so I lied there for a while until I could get enough strength to get myself up. Scott finally got home and called the doctor to see what we should do. She had us go to the hospital to make sure all was well. At the hospital they gave me two bags of fluid for dehydration and some Zofran for the nausea. I felt so much better after that and we were able to go home after a few hours. We left the kids at my sister-in-laws house for the night as we were scheduled to be induced the next morning anyway. At home I tried to get some rest but started experiencing contractions at 12:30 a.m. (I have never had contractions on my own without pitocin, my water usually breaks)we were totally out of our element as to what to do. I waited until the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I couldn't take them anymore which was at around 3 a.m. When we arrived at the hospital I was at a seven so they admitted me and I had my epidural by around 4:30 a.m. and then just hung out and waited and got some rest. Around 9 they broke my water and said they would give it until 10 before they started pitocin. 10 o'clock came and went and I was put on pitocin by 11 and then finally started to progress. I started feeling contractions again and then before we knew it, it was time to start pushing. Unfortunately the pitocin wore off and I went through the last leg of it feeling everything. Ugh! I had to wait for my midwife Helene to come up from the office but Dr. Lovell stood by the room just in case. They made me wait to push which is almost impossible but I survived and Helene made it on time to deliver Macy at 12:17 p.m. on Tuesday. Welcome to the world Macy, we love you!

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{Introducing Miss Macy}

2009-09-09T21:15:00.001-06:00

Macy L Ricks arrived Tuesday September 8th at 12:17 p.m. weighing in at 8 lbs 0 oz 19inches. She is a little sweetie and we are so grateful she is finally here! I will post more of her story later. For now here are some pics! Her first bath which she didn't enjoy except for getting her hair washed. I got my tubes tied so I was just wheeled in from surgery. Brigham was so concerned about me and stood at my bedside and rubbed my arm. Brigham, Daddy and Macy Mommy and Macy Ashtyn holding her for the first time Brigham taking her all in Haylee excited about her. Brigham, Mommy and Macy just before we were bringing her home. Ready to go home.

First Day of School

2009-08-27T08:07:00.001-06:00

School has officially begun. Haylee has been asking for weeks when school would start and when I would tell her she would say "your killing me Mom" because it just wasn't soon enough for her. Here they are all ready to go. Miss Ashtyn headed off to Third grade today. Her teacher is Mr. LeFevre. She is wearing a special outfit that she got to pick out on her Grandma McGarry date this year. Little Haylee is in 1st grade, which may as well be her Senior year with her personality. She is in Miss Christensen's class which is fun because her teacher taught Scott in 1st grade and me in 3rd grade. The kids waiting at the bus stop. The neighborhood kids at the bus stop. Notice how Haylee and Tyson are holding hands, soo cute! I love that that kids get a long so well in our neighborhood. Finally the bus came, how exciting! Our neighborhood had a bus stop breakfast. Here is the big crew enjoying our last summer get together. Here are the girls getting off the bus. Haylee came running so excited to tell me about her day. Ashtyn walked right over to the neighbors house I gave her a few minutes and finally had to call her over so she would tell me about her day. All I got was "it was fine Mom". I guess that is the difference between a 1st and 3rd grader.

B-I- VEGIO

2009-08-25T13:13:00.001-06:00

We planted a family garden at my parent's house this year. Every Monday for FHE we all come and weed and pick in the garden. Each week a different family is in charge of providing dinner. It has been a lot of fun to get together weekly and to see the garden produce all the veggies. Yesterday on our way out to the garden Brigham was singing in the car B-I-VEGIO, B-I-VEGIO. I tried to correct him to let him know it is really sung B-I-N-G-O but he argued that he had just seen it on tv and he was right. I guess since we were gardening it was the perfect song for the evening. Some of the onions Zucchini Carrotts, Peas and Beans Part of the garden. I am getting excited about the corn, I think it will be ready by next Monday. Yum Yum The other part of the garden where we have Zucchini, tomoatoes, onions etc. etc. I took today off of work to spend the last day of summer with the kids. (I CAN'T BELIEVE SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW!) While the girls choose to spend time outside with friends, Briggy helped me in the kitchen make Zucchini bread and blanch the peas and beans for freezing. Briggy helping me prep Zucchini for the bread. He is a huge fan of Zuch. bread and ate half of the loaf himself. I just love my baking buddy!

Rexburg Fair

2009-08-19T09:29:00.001-06:00

Since Macy should be born while the Blackfoot Fair is taking place, we decided to take the kids to the Rexburg Fair which even had ride this year. We met up with Scott's Dad and brother and let the kids ride some rides, looked at the booths and attended the rodeo. Checking out the animals. Ashtyn is still bugged we didn't buy her a bunny...they were only $10.00 blah blah... Brigham got to ride on Grandpa's shoulders and a cool elephant ride Haylee & Whitney of course choose a pink heart ride Everyone rode the zipper including little Michelle. We had to convince Ashtyn to ride it since it goes up-side-down but she rode it with Ali and laughed her head off the entire time. I think she was glad she went.

Showered

2009-08-15T18:45:00.001-06:00

My great friend Darci threw me a baby shower last week for co-workers and family. It was so nice since we are starting all over with this baby having gotten rid of all of our baby stuff since Brigham. It has been 6 1/2 years since our last girl so it was nice to get updated clothes as well. We held the shower at Gringos so we didn't have to worry about space, tables or chairs. It worked out okay except we ended up sharing the back room with a 20 top that was scheduled at the same time. Grrr! (poor Scott heard about that one!) Thank you Darci for all your hard work and for everyone who came to support. I really appreciate it! Isn't this the cutest blanket ever? Darci made this for me. I am super impressed with her skills and how darn cute it turned out! It was fun to have the girls at the shower with me. They helped with the gifts and had a blast with their cousins that came. Opening gifts...ugh I hate pictures of me but it had to be done. Notice the fabulous car seat cover my sister Michelle gave me. I love, love, love these covers. This is Darci, the host. I have so much fun with her whenever we are together. We worked in the same office for over a year and had a hard time not gabbing constantly! I am grateful for her friendship and love her to death. Food and guests, what more could you want?

The Nursery

2009-08-05T16:11:00.001-06:00

We have finally finished the nursery. It has been an ongoing project for several months now mostly because I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for sure and/or couldn't find what I was looking for to pull of the look I wanted. I am happy with the results and can't wait to actually use it. Yes, we have decided on the name Macy. There is no turning back now that it is on her wall. I don't know why this photo is so dark, but it is of the curtains. I couldn't find anything to match and ended up converting a blanket that matched the bedding. I am pleased with how it turned out. I painted these flowers on thin canvas boards. I just copies the designs from the crib sheets. Ashtyn is so proud that I did these myself and introduces the room as all being "made by hand" This is just the changing table and another wall of the room. I will do something besides shoes on the shelf eventually but haven't made it that far. Last but not least, the crib. I love the bedding which inspired the stripes on the wall and the flower paintings. The room is so cheerful. Hopefully I will have a happy baby to go in it.

McGarry Reunion 2009

2009-07-26T20:04:00.001-06:00

Every year our immediate McGarry family tries to get together and go camping somewhere. We had planned on going back to Tear Drop Lake this year on the 16th, 17th and 18th but Ben broke his arm and so we ended up with plan B...camping in Mom and Dad's back yard a week later. I was thrilled at how much fun it ended up being even so close to home. We had a ton going on as my parent were also hosting the yearly extended McGarry Family Reunion at their house on Saturday. {DAY 1} We like to try to get a picture of all the grandkids each year so we can see how they have grown. We are missing Wacy in this photo, but other than that the grandkids are all there. (top left: Ben, Noah, Branson, middle: Ashtyn, Zack, Haylee, bottom: Shaylee, Brock & Brigham) We didn't start the reunion until Thursday afternoon so we grilled hamburgers and roasted hot dogs and smores over the fire pit. Our cute parents who started this all. We ended the evening watching Kit Kitchridge outside on the shop wall. It was a great first day to our reunion. {DAY 2} Day 2 started out a little odd, it was alittle chilly with rain which we weren't expecting. We still made breakfast outside and then went in the house and cleaned house to prepare for the reunion the next day. It worked out well while we waited for the storm to blow through. Eventually the weather got better and we saddled up some horses to do relay races etc. in the arena. Here is Zack and Haylee doing a relay race where they are trying to keep a rock between their legs while racing to the finish line. Grandpa started roping the grandkids which they thought was great. Some of our cowboys (from left: Ben, Haylee, Ashtyn & Scott) We got Scott, Dad, Ashtyn, Kliss and Michelle to barrel race. None of the horses are used to the barrels so it was pretty comical to watch. Of Course Michelle won with a time of 22 seconds on Duke. Scott was riding Ratchet and he didn't want anything to do with the barrels. He kept trying to buck and crow hop with Scott so my Dad had to get on after Scott's ride and made him run the barrel pattern. Ride 'im Cowboy! . Later that evening we hung out in the backyard and danced while the guys did dutch oven cooking. Yum Yum! After dinner the kids did some archery We ended the evening with fireworks to celebrate Pioneer Day. {DAY 3} The first half of this day was spent getting ready for the extended family reunion. (I will post this one separately) After the reunion on Saturday we went boating at the Ririe Resevoir. We weren't there very long before a major wind storm blew in. We were on the dock and suddenly flip flops and other loose objects started flying in the water. We all grabbed what we could and hunkered down in a corner of the dock. Just our luck! We all got a good laugh out of it and stayed for a while longer before we gave up and loaded the kids up to take them home. It was freezing especially when the water would blow up and splash against us. Some of the older kids and the men stayed behind and played in the water despite the horrible wind. We all still had a great time. Brigham and Noah swimming by the dock. Aunt Michelle helping Brock and Brigham blow up a tube Zack and Brigham Ashtyn and Scott Logan and Brandon bringing in the boat Uncle Jeremy was driving with a load of kids. Thanks Michelle and Jeremy for taking us boating. It was a ton of fun even with the wind!

Trampoline Trauma

2009-07-19T17:20:00.001-06:00

At around 4 o'clock this afternoon a nice little hail storm blew through town. The kids and I ran to the sliding glass doors to check it out. Our storage shed doors were opening and shutting so we were yelling at Scott who was in the other room because things were getting blown around. Next thing we knew the trampoline came straight at us. Luckily it caught on the railing of the stairs and didn't smack into the glass doors. We all screamed and then started laughing (with exception of Ashtyn who started to cry). I went out and held on to the tramp until Scott could come to my rescue. Unfortunately it bent the tramp up a bit. Hopefully Scott can fix it or I am going to have to curse this Idaho weather for the second damaged item this year due to wind. The trampoline after the storm. Notice the legs don't quite sit on the ground anymore, it is a little bent up. The view of the trampoline from my dining room sitting on our deck stairs. Way too close to the glass doors we were looking out of.

Webster's Dam

2009-07-15T21:58:00.001-06:00

Michelle and I went to Rigby Lake with 8 kids and my Mom and sister met up with us for part of it to have a picnic. I wish I had brought my camera for that because it is very rare to have most of the grandkids together especially at a fun place like Rigby Lake. The kids stayed busy for several hours until we forced them to go home. I am a fan of Rigby Lake because it keeps them all so entertained and you don't have to do anything but watch them have fun. Scott had gone with my Dad for the day up to the Moody area to check on cows. The walkie talkie he carried on his horse with him ended up getting lost so we felt responsible to try to go find the thing. (these are big industrial walkie talkies that run $250 a piece) Scott loaded up a few four wheelers and my little brother Logan and we headed to Moody in search of the walkie talkie. We were successful and found it (thank heavens!) so then we decided we would go to Webster's Dam since it was in the general area. To get there you must climb steep terain and go down steep terain. At some points we got off and hiked instead of risking the roll down the hill. I realized it is not easy to hike with a 32 week belly but it was nice to get some exercise in for once. When you get to the bottom there is a few great waterfalls to enjoy so it was worth all the hassle. It was just fun to spend time as a family out in nature. The best part is that Scott even gave up a night of softball so we could all be together. He lives for softball night so I am feeling very loved tonight. ;) The smaller waterfall (I forgot to take a picture of the other one) Our little fam hanging out at Webster's Dam The kids getting ready for the ride in search of the walkie talkies Still haven't found it but we would stop every so often to see if we could hear it by talking in to another one. This is how we ended up finding it otherwise it would still be there. It was hiding in thick brush and such and wouldn't have been easy to spot. Brigham called to ride the "blue one" so Logan had to cart him around with him. Thanks Uncle Loges for the ride!

4TH OF JULY

2009-07-05T13:21:00.000-06:00

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Utah Trip

2009-06-28T21:33:00.001-06:00

This weekend I decided to take the kids to Utah to visit the cousins. Kliss has been saying that we needed to come down and go to Hogle Zoo with her before June 2009because that is when her passes expired. Michelle and I waited until the last possible weekend we could go and finally took her up on it. Scott had to work but my little brother Logan offered to ride down with me so he could help me with the kids. It was so nice to have him there to meet all the kids demands while I was driving. Thanks Logan! Here are all our kids by the gorilla exhibit. We have kids with ages 10,9,8,7,6,5 & 3 so they each had a buddy and it works out perfectly. Can't plan that much better for grandkids! Notice Ben's broken arm. He broke it the day before we came down. He did really good and it didn't seem to hinder his ability to play. It is really hard to get 8 kids to stand still for a picture and to find a place where there aren't 50 other people standing around. On our way home today we stopped at Temple Square and took a tour of the Conference Center. The last time I went was when it was first built so it was fun to go back and be reminded of how cool the building really is. This is a fountain that is inside at the begining of the tour when the kids were inclined to listen and sit still for a second. Here I am with my little family on top of the Conference Center overlooking the Salt Lake Temple. It was super hot up there on a 90 Utah day but it is really a pretty view. Here is Zack and Haylee saying their goodbyes. We hardly heard from them all weekend they were so good to play together and get along so well. We are going to miss the Francis family for the next few weeks until they come up for some camping!

I'm Officially 30-Eeek!

2009-06-24T14:09:00.001-06:00

It is completely weird that I have hit my thirties. I don't feel any older today so that is good. Scott left me a message in my work notebook. It put a big smile on my face. Ashtyn giving me a hug for my birthday. Brigham really wanted to take some photos. Here is Briggy kissing my 29 week belly. He comes and talks or sings to my belly every day. The girls don't seem to care that much about it but Briggy is always there to talk to his little sister. It is super cute. Scott is taking me to dinner and a movie for my birthday and I may get to do a little shopping if time permits. Thanks to everyone for the emails, cards, treats, babysitting etc. to make this such a great day. I really appreciate it!

Brigham's take on the Nursery

2009-06-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

We are in the process of painting stripes on the walls of the nursery. This used to be Brighams room and the stripes were green and blue so we are covering the old stripes with colors from the crib bedding. Since this is a process, we had paint out in the room but the door was locked. Sunday afteroon Scott and I laid down for a nap but it was literally ten minutes before we decided we weren't all that tired and decided to head to his Dad's. I wanted to check on how the stripes were drying (the pink is taking forever--we had painted Saturday afternoon and it still wasn't dry 24 hours later)I walked in the room talking to Scott and touching the walls. I didn't even notice the new artwork. Scott just sat there stunned that I hadn't said anything and waited patiently for me to figure it out. I have to admit my reaction is not what I would have thought. I wanted to laugh and had a hard time keeping a straight face while lecturing Brigham on what he had just done. I don't know why it didn't bug me. What a pain it is now going to be to pull out my tan paint and touch up but whatever. He got his inner Van Gogh out and now I get to go shopping for some new church pants. I will post a picture once the stripes are painted and the nursery is more complete.

Swim Lessons and Trampolines

2009-06-11T11:18:00.000-06:00

We started the summer off with swimming lessons Heise. Today was the last day so Scott and I stayed and swam with them. They had a great time. I must say I am glad it is over. Driving back and forth to Heise 8 times gets old, even Brigham was getting burnt out. Action Shots: Brigham with his swimming certificate. Good job buddy! Brigham with his swimming certificate. Good job buddy! We had our annual neighborhood garage sale last weekend and it was a hit. We were able to pay off a medical bill and buy the kids a trampoline so it was a success. The kids have been jumping every chance they get despite the rain. We had one nice day and several neighborhood kids came to play.

Gringo Updates

2009-06-05T06:15:00.000-06:00

We are trying some new things at Gringos so I thought I would update everyone who may be interested. If you click on the Gringos logo on my sidebar it will take you to our new website. You can check out the new menu and print coupons. We are also going to be at Smith Park every Thursday serving things like nachos, churros, chips and salsa, strawberry lemonades etc. They are all sold for $2.00 and under. You can also buy the tub of 16 oz salsa to bring home. They have someone there each week playing music so it is a fun time to take your family to the park and let the kids dance and enjoy some cheap mexican food. Here are some new menu items:

Haylee's Big Day

2009-05-28T10:06:00.000-06:00

Haylee had a big day today. She officially graduated from Kindergarten and had her final dance recital of the year. We are proud of all you accomplished this year Haylee! Haylee with her teach Mrs. Nichols Singing in the program Her Ballet costume She took Ballet with her cousin Whitney. On stage at the Kirkham Auditorium. The night was a success!

Memorial Weekend Adventures

2009-05-25T09:05:00.000-06:00

This weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday my Dad had 4 semi loads of cattle brought up to the Kelly Canyon area where they will be living for the summer. Once they unload the semis, they trail them several miles to their destination. Ashtyn and Scott rode horses with several other family members that went up. I got to drive the pickup behind the cattle drive with the kids that weren't riding that day. We started at 8 a.m. and got home at around 10. It was a long day but the kids had a blast. Haylee became friends with a cousin she doesn't see often. She asked me if you can marry cousins. He picked her flowers and they went to watch the sunset together. Too funny, especially since they are only six. The day went pretty smooth besides a calf that fell from a cliff. We thought for sure he was dead but he survived the fall. I am still in awe that it evened happened. Our little Haylee, she kept wanting to pose for pictures. Brock and Brigham riding Crook We also fit camping into the weekend. We got to watch one of my cousin Katie's twins while she went on the cattle drive Saturday. Morgan was a lot of fun and is such a good baby! Dad's pickup that I got to drive all day. This thing is huge, If you could only see the trailor it is pulling. Since it was Memorial Day weekend I had some pretty interesting experiences trying to pass people in campers, on four wheelers etc. on those narrow roads. The kids played ontop, inside and all over that thing. Good thing Grandpa considers it a work truck and is pretty laid back about it. The whole back of it was filled with tossed brown sides of the oreo cookie. Lovely. Sorry Dad! This was my view for most of the day. Yee Haw! The kids played and played (Haylee's new friend Morgan McGarry is in the yellow shirt) Ashtyn on Dixie my horse that I got when I was 8, Scott on Harley, my little sister's horse. Brigham on Crook he loved to ride and kept begging to go. We forgot to bring a bridal so he had to be led around and I was too lazy to lead the horse around all day. I am glad he loves to ride. Haylee doesn't get into it so 2 out of 3 can hang with Grandpa all summer. My Dad and two of his brothers. Verl - Tim - Kent My handsome Daddy. Isn't he a stud?

Dance Recital

2009-05-19T09:20:00.001-06:00

The girls had their dance recital on May 15th. They did such a good job and it was fun to see the final results after hauling them to dance several times a week. The theme this year was Michael Jackson so every song they danced to was a Jackson song. It was a really fun recital to watch. Ashtyn can't get the song Thriller out of her head so I have got to enjoy that song over and over!

Ashtyn and Haylee after recital

Haylee in her first costume "Ben"

Ashtyn in first costume "Working Day & Night"

Dancing with the Stars

2009-05-07T12:56:00.001-06:00

I am starting to think letting Brigham watch Dancing with the Stars with me sometimes is not a good idea. He has started to ask me to dance with him and thinks we should be able to do lifts etc. together. He couldn't understand why I vetoed trying to slide between his legs. In his mind this is a fabulous trick and if they can do it, why can't we? (Hmmm, big belly small leg span for starters) Oh to be a kid again and believe anything is possible. I would just like to believe that someday I could pull of wearing one of the girl's costumesthat they dance in.

Oh boy!.....It's a GIRL

2009-04-28T09:40:00.000-06:00

We found out yesterday that we are having another girl. Brigham was very disappointed and stopped watching the ultrasound, went to his own chair and sat there and sulked for a minute. Another nurse walked in and asked him what he was getting and he said in a very grumpy voice with a very sad face "it's a girl". I wish I had brought my video camera to get his reaction because it was pretty funny. He started to lighten up when I explained to him that he could help me dress her pretty and pick out hair bows for her. Things are looking up now and he has grown more used to the idea of having another girl to deal with. At least this time he gets to be the older brother. We are really excited to welcome another little lady into our home. Just for my own memory: *Wasn't sick until weeks 11-14. Now feeling better but still get sick a few times a week * Dropped 15 pounds in those 3 weeks of being sick. Haven't gained any back yet but I am sure it will come. * Started showing at 3 1/2 to 4 months. I usually don't show until 5-6. I look like I should be 7 month pregnant now. (I am still debating on posting a belly pic) * Got a horrible rash all over my stomach when I was 4 weeks along. I still have it despite $1200 in dermatologist visits. They have been unable to tell me what it is. They sent 3 biopsy's to Stanford Medical and no one can figure it out. Lovely Here are some photos of the rash. It is a little better from some cream they got me but it still hasn't cleared up. I am nearly insane with all the itching. Just 5 more months of it to endure. Ugh! * I am still wearing regular pants and most of my regular tops. I have incorporated a few maternity tops but feel too frumpy when wearing them still. * I have been feeling her wiggle around for the last month or so. Can't wait to start feeling the full out kicks so I can share that with the kids. * My main craving has been Mexican food. I could eat it every day. I can't stand Mayo anymore and didn't realize this until I tried to eat a Subway sandwich. I have also craved a lot of icecream and Koolaid. * I will remember that this IS the last one. I don't enjoy being pregnant and tend to forget this after a few years. FYI-when I type out this post it is all spaced nicely but for some reason when I post it just groups it all together. I don't know what my problem is but it is annoying. If you know what I am doing wrong please tell me.

1st Camping Trip 2009

2009-04-20T09:43:00.001-06:00

We could hardly wait to get out and camp this year. Brigham has been asking to go since January so we took advantage of the good weather this weekend and went. We didn't go too far away but it was nice to get away with the kids and let them run wild outdoors. We were on some of Scott's family property and so he took the kids around to some cool spots that he played in while he was a kid. There is a cave they used to play in and the kids thought that was really neat to go into the cave. I attempted some family pictures on the rocks on the edge of a cliff. Unfortunately camping clothes don't make it the best picture but it was still cool to see the valley of Rexburg behind us.

{EASTER}

2009-04-15T07:59:00.000-06:00

I had a hard time getting into Easter this year. There has been too much going on and so my usual prepared self wasn't prepared. We always do a big Easter egg hunt with my family so I didn't bother to take the kids to any egg hunts going on around town. This year we held the annual McGarry egg hunt the day Ashtyn got baptized since most of the family was already in town. We held it at my house because my Mom and Dad are remodeling theirs at the moment. They have much better space than my house does, but we managed. My cute parents Shaylee with a balloon bunny. These were the hit of the day. My Dad was blowing Brigham's dragon up and it popped and scared us all to death. I warned him and even got it on video. Brigham didn't mind because of the great reaction it got from everyone. The big group. We were only missing Ashlee this year. Brandon and Logan's girlfriends braved coming over to hang with us. I am sure they think we are all crazy! Mr. B looking for his eggs. Isn't he getting so big? Miss Ashtyn my cutie The loot. What is Easter without chocolate bunnies? The girls were tricked by the Easter bunny this year. He took their bags and swapped them for cuter bags. It threw them off when they were looking for their baskets. Dying the eggs. Usually they do this with all the cousins but this year it was nice and quiet. It was fun to see their crafty side come out. Brigham and Haylee really got into it. Haylee was very creative and made one of the eggs look like the Easter Bunny. I was really impressed. She had to help Brigham make one for himself after he saw hers.

Cruisin'

2009-04-07T20:45:00.000-06:00

This past week Scott and I went on a cruise for our 10th Anniversary. Our 10th isn't until September, but since we will have a newborn then we decided this was our last chance to go. On Tuesday evening we made a treachorous trip to Salt Lake in white out snow conditions. It was very scary at times but we made it safely. Wednesday we made the long journey to Miami, Florida where the port was. We made it to Miami at midnight and stayed in a crappy Holiday Inn. When we got there we walked to our room and their was music blaring from inside. We didn't dare go in so Scott ran back to the front desk and the assured us that the room was just checked. We bravely went inside and looked behind all the curtains etc. We discovered that the bathroom hadn't been cleaned and there was a bar of used soap on the counter. Needless to say I wasn't very happy so they ended up upgrading our room and giving us free breakfast the next morning. The rest of the trip was great. We cruised on the Carnival Destiny ship which was amazing. It was full of entertainment like jugglers, jokesters, shows, bingo, golf, swimming etc. so we were never bored. We stopped in Key West and shopped for a day and then we stopped in Cozumel, Mexico where we went to a private beach. I laid in the sun while Scott went snorkeling. I couldn't go with him because I had just got stitches from a skin biopsy so the Dr. didn't let me go in the Ocean...bummer. We had a great time there and also did some shopping. Here is a view leaving the Miami port. Miami is absolutely gorgeous! This was one of the cute towel creations they would leave on our bed every night. They would clean the room twice a day for us. The service was amazing! Here is Scott and I enjoying a show they put on in a huge theater they had. We were never disappointed although Scott did have a hard time sitting through a show that was like broadway or Vegas style dancing through out. Here is Scott at the beach. I will spare you photos of me. Remember that I am almost five months pregnant and not looking too hot in my opinion. Here is a picture of our ship. It was the biggest one out there that we saw. I believe there were over 3000 guests on the ship. It had nine different levels, I am still amazed at what they put on those ships. I recommend cruises to anyone who thinks they would like one...next time I won't go clear to Florida to a port but other than that it was a great trip! Thanks Scotty for taking me. Happy Anniversary, I love you!

Baptism Day

2009-03-31T10:46:00.000-06:00

Ashtyn was baptized on the 28th. It was such a nice special day for her. We had a lot of family support and although chaotic at times, it was really great to have everyone around. Ashtyn we are very proud of you! You are such a beautiful young lady. Ashtyn and Dad ready to be baptized: Looking cute in her new dress: My family, we were missing one sister Ashlee but the rest of the clan was there: After the baptism we went to Gringo's for the luncheon. I served home made food, we just used Gringo's for the tables and chairs and it worked out nicely: